A shop
open for business.
Discounts, freebies, promotions,
abound.
In people come.
They walk.
They glance.
They look.
They ask.
They buy.
The dream
of a shopkeeper.
I stand
in front of the counter.
A flood of questions.
A glimmer of hope in my eyes.
A smile forming at the edge of my mouth.
But one by one
they turn their bodies
away and away.
Out they walk
empty handed
and I
feeling empty.
The clock
it shows just three o'clock.
But the shop
it has never felt
bigger
emptier
colder.
The shop
closed for business
forever.
Will it ever reopen?
I wonder.